TUSCALOOSA — Alabama forward Aiden Sherrell did not see any action in the Crimson Tide’s 94-85 loss to Auburn. The freshman had appeared in all of Alabama’s previous 24 games before Saturday’s matchup.

Coach Nate Oats' decision to not play Sherrell was not injury-related and didn’t have anything to do with his performances thus far. In fact, Oats said he felt bad for not giving Sherrell many minutes and praised the freshman for his response to staying on the bench for the Tide’s biggest game of the season.

“I told you we have practice MVP voting,” Oats said to reporters Tuesday. “There’s only two guys that got practice MVP votes from the team yesterday and it was Grant [Nelson] and Aiden Sherrell. So, for him to come back and practice as hard, with as good an attitude as he did, when a lot of guys would have been immature, pouted. He’s not that.”

Sherrell’s attitude drew a comparison from Oats to sophomore Mouhamed Dioubate, who had a few DNPs during his freshman season. Dioubate stayed the course, which allowed him to get an opportunity during the Tide’s NCAA Tournament run. Diobuate put in a memorable and gritty performance with nine points and five rebounds, most of which came in the final five minutes of Alabama’s win over Grand Canyon in the Round of 32.

Oats went on to explain why Sherrell didn’t get in against the Tigers. Auburn’s two primary bigs are center Dylan Cardwell and elite forward Jonhi Broome. Cardwell’s three first-half fouls meant the Tigers didn’t deploy two bigs as often as Oats anticipated, which limited Sherrell's possible defensive matchups. Improved defensive effort on Broome by Diobuate and center Clifford Omoruyi also led Oats to stick with those two on the defensive end.

“We kind of just went back and forth between Cliff and Mo D, who I thought were doing a great job," Oats said. "Then they didn’t play two bigs nearly as much as I thought that they would and it kind of shook out that way. And it had nothing to do with how Aiden had been playing because I think he’s been playing much better basketball.”

Sherrell has indeed looked promising during his first campaign in Tuscaloosa. Forwards can take longer to adjust to the size and length at the power five-level, but Sherrell has had some bright moments, especially on the offensive end. Sherrell averages 2.9 points and 2.8 rebounds in just under eight minutes per game. He had a career-high 12 points along with seven rebounds in the Tide’s victory over Georgia on Feb. 1, and Oats does not anticipate another DNP for the freshman the next time the Tide takes the floor.

“I did feel bad,” Oats said. “We tried to win the game with guys that were working and I would anticipate Aiden getting minutes in the first half against Missouri and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

Alabama faces Missouri at 8 p.m. CT Wednesday night inside Mizzou Arena. The game will be televised on SEC Network.